Senate, Assembly, Cuomo Reach Cash Consensus

The Senate Finance Committee, Assembly Ways and Means Committee and state Budget Division have reached on agreement on just how much cash they’ve got to spend in 2011-2012, settling on a number that’s $155 million higher than the governor’s initial estimate.

The three parties have collectively decided to assume the economy will continue to recover, although they’re not all on the same page about how long that will take. Here’s the formal statement:

All parties agree that the economic outlook reached in economic consensus should result in an increase of receipts through the end of 2011-12 of $155 million when compared to the amount projected in the Executive Budget.

While the report acknowledges that differences exist between the parties on the speed and strength of the State economic recovery, all parties agreed that New York’s recovery will continue.

Earlier this week, the Senate estimated the state would end up with $438 million more than Cuomo’s prediction in the coming fiscal year. The Assembly, meanwhile, put the number at $49 million less that what the governor expected.

That’s actually a departure from past years. The Assembly traditionally has come out high in its projection, while the governor usually under-estimates revenue and the Senate ends up somewhere in the middle.